Good Day

Yesterday was a perfect island kind of day.
First I went to a meeting to work on administration stuff for the fabric art event I'm helping to organize. (Hold on to your hats! Information will be available soon!) My meeting was at the home of a local artisan, and I was given an impromptu tour of the grounds. What a privilege it was - standing there in the yard of this potter. It was a testament to a lifetime of hard work and artistic drive, and he's still going strong. (Its all about the work! Do the work! I have to keep telling myself)
Then I came home, was putting on my boots to head up to the Anagama kiln firing that was open for viewing, when our friends from Hornby appeared. We all went up to view the firing, and WoW! Was that ever great. Shirley Phillips gave us an informative tour of the process - the kiln was being fed wood (about 5 cords per firing!) every ten or twenty minutes, the pottery inside, which you could view with the aid of sunglasses, and only when the fire was dying down, was white hot! There was a big chimney up the hill which spewed flames when the fire was fed, but no ash - it all gets burned up inside the kiln. After the firing, which is a days long process, the kiln doors get bricked up and the flue damped down and then its some more days to wait for it to cool down enough to go in and get the pots. WoW! I am definitely going on the Denman Island Pottery Tour this year.
Our friends went on to do what they were doing and K and I stopped in to deliver a catalogue to some friends up on their acreage. They have built the nicest log house, just 16' x 20' and they have a really productive garden. The apple trees are all in bloom and some of the baby plants are going in the ground... we had a great visit, and then we got invited down to our other friends' 10' x 10' handmade log house for wood-stove cooked pizza. Grand, just grand. I can't imagine a better island day. I love this place.

Conspiracy

Ravens.
Wise birds that are inventive, intelligent
and like shiny things.
When spotted in a group are sometimes referred to as an "unkindness"
or a "conspiracy", depending
on what they are up to.

We have ravens here on our island. A family of three live in the trees above my house,
and taunt me and tease me
when I'm out in the garden.
I think they are spectacular birds.

I am one of a small group of quilters that has formed a conspiracy - to bring together fellow fiber freaks to learn and show and make stuff. Its called the Creative Threads Conspiracy, and will take place in October this year, in the village on Denman Island. Hopefully it will be so good that it will become an annual event. We have courses in patchwork and quilting planned- ranging from fairly traditional to embellished and improvisational, hand quilting, making paper-cloth, natural dying, needle felting, knitting, using scraps and thrift store finds to make quilts, a bevy of techniques to make the work easier. Good food, good company, lots of creativity all in a relaxed atmosphere away from phones and the daily grind. Stay posted and I'll give you more info when the time comes...

Gotta Sew!

Phew! I sewed today for the first time in what seems like weeks.
A lie - I sewed yesterday, for hours, but it was different than today. Yesterday I was working on my industrial machine, sewing large (10' x 30') sail-shaped things that will hang in a gym, lowering the ceiling to make the space more intimate and stylish. They are white, and constructed in an industrial vinyl mesh. Its exciting to be sewing such big things again, but its not the creative sewing that my brain craves.

Today I went into my new studio - its made of a shipping container (photos soon) - and I just stared at my blank design wall for a while. Then I got out some fabric that has been in storage for almost two years, and I cut some pieces and sewed them together. It was a practice piece that I made today, just to keep me in the loop, to keep the creating muscles active, to keep from getting rusty. It felt good, breaking in my new sewing space.

Bee

 Xoxceptional Love

I'm involved in a quilting bee - by mail! The lovely and talented Cynthia Frenette started the Fab Bee and April is her month to 1) send out fabric and inspiration/ideas/instructions to the other participants and to 2) receive blocks made for her from the fabrics she sent out.

I was so inspired by her fabrics (many of which she designed herself, see Spoonflower) and her idea, that I got right to work and made my block. I drew up the pink branch thing and foundation pieced it. Then I pieced the background, cutting in some x's and o's - and I cut out the crazy heart and hand appliqued it to the background. I also made a little improvisational block with the leftovers, but I forgot to take a photo of it (oops), and sent it all back to Cynthia. Now if I could only figure out how to get a button on my sidebar that will connect to the Flickr photo page.....

On Again Off Again

I got back on my island on Tuesday night and will get back off it tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll get back on it again next week. On again, off again.

Fun though, I've been spending time with quilters - loosening up some lines. No rulers, no worries, no perfect star points.

Dear old Husqvarna

My first sewing machine - it was my mom's, and she bought the best machine she could find when she got married. It had fancy stitches - you had to change out the cams to produce some of them, and it was green with dark brown knobs and wheels. It would sew through anything! The electric motor finally went on it - my mom sewed a lot , then my sister and me too, and we all used that old Husky. It came in a green tweed hard case with lots of accessories. This is a photo of one just like our old beauty.  I was reminded of this old machine when Lysa posted a picture of a beautiful orange Husqvarna she coveted, and it made me remember all my lovely (and some not so lovely) sewing machines I've had. (I may have a bit of sewing machine acquisition problem- this problem comes and goes).
I think my favourite sewing machine is my current daily driver - a Bernina 1090. I bought it used, purchased a walking foot and a #37 foot (for 1/4 inch seams) and have never looked back.
I had a Bernina 1008 in the late 1990's. It was a basic machine, but a sturdy little work horse. I traded it in years later when I bought a big-dog computerized machine, and the next day regretted my decision to let it go - went back to the store to buy it back and it was already sold!
I enjoyed that big-dog computerized Bernina 200 for it's wide stitch and awesome machine quilting abilities, but was not using it's computer brain to its best advantage so it went on to bigger and better things at Cynthia's house. You should see what she does with it!
I have a semi industrial Bernina (good for curtains and slipcovers) and an industrial Consew with a built in walking foot (good for the really heavy sewing I sometimes do). I bought a Babylock serger a few years ago to finish the seams on some upholstery I was doing, I have mom's old Bernina 830 (she bought it when she passed the old green Husky on to me) and I have an older Bernina 801 that did its time in a school sewing room.

 I have bought and sold many pretty little Singers, old black ones in round wooden boxes or in leather trimmed boxes, I once had a little green one in a cabinet which I gave to a nice young co-worker who had a special talent for sewing. I used to have a Pfaff 130 with the choice of an electric motor or a hand crank. I had that one with me when we sailed down the coast - to repair sails, or just to sew when the urge hit. I sold it to another sailor friend.

I think my next sewing machine will be a treadle, so I can carry on stitching if the power goes out (which it does a few times each winter), otherwise my desire to acquire is dormant.

Do you have a favourite sewing machine?

Spring!

The first day of spring.
I love first days.
Another new year's celebration for those with a short attention span.

I have a pile of bright new solid fabrics all washed and dried and ready to press, ready to inspire, ready to be stripes, ready for whatever...  and ....I have two new classes to design.

1). Epic Skills For The Modern Patchworker - I'd like to teach the basics - so a person can have at their fingertips any technique needed to get their own fabulous designs out into the world. And some finicky stuff, like joining the ends of binding, and making nice mitered corners, easy ways to make good triangles in any size, nestling seam allowances, pressing geek-outs, etc. As time allows, I'll teach specific skills to those wanting to know how to do ... "that"!

2). Improv Quilt for Anybody - This one will be a class for anyone who wants to make a quilt, mixing big pieces of special fabrics (an old favorite shirt? Gran's embroidered linens?) and patchwork bits and other cloth... to plan, cut and piece a unique quilt top. I hope to have experienced quilters who wish to "loosen up" and new quilters who are simply excited by the whole idea of patchwork and its possibilities and people who just want to make a quilt.

Yay for the first day of spring.